TAM-1 Cable Network Production Has Started, Says Nexans
By Vaughan O'Grady, Developing Telecoms
May 16, 2024
Global cable provider Nexans says it has started production of TAM-1, a new fibre optic submarine cable network owned by Trans Americas Fibre System.
TAM-1 will span 7,000 kilometres, establishing a high-speed route from the Florida in the US to a diverse set of countries including the Northern Caribbean (Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, and the British Virgin Islands), Mexico, Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama), and Colombia.
With procurement of the raw materials complete, cable production for the system has now started in Rognan, Nexans’ submarine cable production facility in northern Norway, which can manufacture up to 10,000 kilometres per year.
The cables form part of the Nexans ROC-2 product line, described as a state-of-the-art solution for high-performance subsea connectivity. For TAM-1, up to 24 optical fibre pairs are included in the cable, with a range of different armouring types deployed throughout the system. An industry-standard vault armouring creates a robust resistance towards the very deep waters encountered along the routes.
TAM-1 has a ready for service date in 2025.
Nexans is a global cable provider with more than 27 000 employees and a presence in 42 countries. This project builds on a long-standing relationship between Nexans and Xtera, a provider of subsea and telecom technology, which have completed a number of successful deployments together in the past.
Trans Americas Fibre System says it is building a state-of-the art subsea network that will be best-in-class across the Americas region and beyond, delivering high connectivity and low latency solutions. TAM-1 will be the first scalable neutral system connecting Central America and the Caribbean to the US for decades.
As we reported at the time, Trans Americas Fibre System and Xtera announced that initial construction had begun on the new TAM-1 submarine cable system in September 2023.
